US manufacturer Link-Belt has appointed new distributors to replace Con-Equip and Owsley, sister companies that are being liquidated, but the names of the principals are familiar to Link-Belt customers in the region.

North and South Carolina will be covered by Pinnacle Cranes, a division of Carolina Tractor & Equipment, a long established Caterpillar excavator dealer. General manager of Pinnacle is Reed Owsley, whose family business – Owsley – previously covered the Carolinas and Georgia for Link-Belt. The Owsley company was sold by the family to Consolidated Equipment Companies (CEC) in 2000. CEC filed for bankruptcy in June 2001 and is now being liquidated.

Link-Belt has also appointed a new distributor for central Texas. Four Seasons Equipment Inc is covering the Houston, Austin and San Antonio markets. Dealer principal and chief financial officer of Four Seasons is George Nevins, who until May 2000 was in charge of CEC. Four seasons’ sales manager is his son Mitch Nevins, who was previously president of Con-Equip, the CEC division that distributed Link-Belt equipment in southeast Texas (including Houston) and southern Louisiana.

Last October Link-Belt extended the territory covered by Scott Truck & Tractor to cover the whole of Louisiana.